


Seven

by thelovelylibra



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Study, Self-Harm, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-06
Packaged: 2018-02-11 23:40:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2087403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelovelylibra/pseuds/thelovelylibra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ginny was fifteen the first time she got drunk with Percy. / Character study of Ginny Weasley.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seven

**Author's Note:**

> A few weeks ago, my roommate and I stayed up all night writing together from a list of prompts. This is in response to the first one.
> 
> Prompt: write a list of firsts for a character, such as first time driving, first kiss. How did each of these moments feel to the character?

1\. The first time Ginny drove a car, she was ten years old. Fred and George snuck out with the enchanted Ford Anglia, and she followed them outside. She demanded they allow her to join them, or else she'd wake up Percy. Reluctantly, they let her come. Once they were in the shed, she jumped in the driver's seat and bullied them into teaching her. This was one of her favorite memories of the three of them. She told the story at Fred's funeral. It was the first time her parents heard it, and the first time since the Final Battle she heard her father laugh.

2\. The first person Ginny slept with was a girl called Chastity. They laughed about the irony of that later, cuddled together on the huge bed in the Room of Requirement. Ginny was sixteen, Chastity a year older, and they'd been dating for a few months when it happened. Ginny had never felt so warm before. Chastity was the taller of the two, but Ginny was the big spoon. They broke up because Ginny didn't want to come out. She was ashamed of that for years.

3\. Ginny cut herself for the first time when she was eleven. It was early in the summer after her first year. She couldn't stop having nightmares about Tom Riddle. She would wake up and remember what her dad had said. "How many times have I told you not to trust something that thinks for itself?" He knew what Ginny knew: it was all her fault. So one night, while she was avoiding sleep, Ginny took a razor blade and cut her own thigh open. It hurt, and she knew it was wrong, but it felt right.

4\. Her first time being pregnant, Ginny had terrible morning sickness, lasting well into the third trimester. Her ankles were swollen, she had heartburn, and she felt awful all the time. But she was happy, despite all this. She was going to be a mother. To her, this was proof she was better.

5\. Ginny was thirteen when she had her first cigarette. She stole it from Percy, who couldn't say anything to stop her. First of all, she reminded him, he'd been smoking since he started school. And second of all, if he wanted to tell on her, he'd have to admit he smoked as well. They both knew their mum would go ballistic. So Percy gave it to her, on the condition she wouldn't smoke unless he was there. She immediately agreed and took it from him, lighting it herself. It tasted bad, and she coughed, but it made her feel like an adult.

The first time she tried to quit, she was seventeen. Harry had caught her smoking and was, of course, disappointed. He gave her those wounded eyes and begged her to stop. So she went cold-turkey. She'd never been so irritable for so long. She'd been smoking for years and had grown accustomed to using nicotine to deal with her nightmares.

She made it a month before starting again, at which point she told Harry he'd just have to deal with it, the same way she had to deal with his shitty coping mechanisms. This was by no means the first crack in their foundation, but it was the first their friends found out about.

6\. The first time Ginny played a proper game of Quidditch, she felt free. She replaced Harry as the seeker, since he was an idiot who got himself banned. Up there on the pitch, she was far away from the whole world. All her problems faded for as long as she was playing. Her only goal was the immediate concern of catching the Snitch and, more importantly, winning. She knew she was too competitive, knew she took the game too seriously, but it felt so good to win, to have the satisfaction of finishing something, being good at it. This was something no one could take away.

She was a better Chaser than a Seeker, to be honest. But she preferred Seeking. It meant she was the one with the power to end it, to finish the game. She was a control freak, and being Seeker catered to that. 

7\. Ginny had her first drink when she was fifteen. She visited Percy in his flat - of course, her parents didn't know - and spent the day with him. He offered her tea, but she declined. He'd always been able to read her best, better even than Bill, and so when he looked closely, he knew something was wrong. So when she asked for a drink, he gave her a tumbler of firewhiskey. "Don't tell Mum," he'd said, twisting his lips in a sarcastic little smirk. "Yeah. Right," she'd replied, a mirror image on her own face.

They spent the afternoon drinking and chain-smoking. He talked about missing the family. She talked about nightmares and PTSD. 

After that, she visited two or three times a month. She was the one who convinced him to come home. He was the only one who knew the entire, unedited truth about what had happened with Tom. 

They didn't always get along, but after that first drink, they were best friends.


End file.
